1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stretching silk on a frame which is used to silk screen printing process, and more particularly the present invention provides automatic silk stretching method and apparatus.
This fabric which is used in so-called silk screen printing process is not limited to silk. In the specification and claims, "silk" is used to represent such fabric for sake of clarity only, and is not intented to limit the scope of the invention.
2. Description of Prior Art
The silk stretching on the silk screen printing frame has been performed manually.
An empty frame is manually cramped in a holder, and adhesive is applied on upper surface of the frame. Silk is cut to desired dimension and is stretched on the adhesive applied frame surface at a predetermined tension. The silk stretched frame is dried by natural drying in the tension applied state of the silk. All the process has been performed manually.
The process is very cumbersome, and accuracy and efficiency of the operation depend on skilness of operator. Thus, irregularity of stretching frequently occur and efficiency of the operation is normally very low.
The demand for such silk screen printing had been low enough to satisfy the demand by manually stretched silk screen. However, recently demands for many frames of many kinds are increasing. For such demands, manual stretching cannot satisfy. Automatic silk stretching apparatus is requested frequently.
The object of the present invention is to satisfy the request and to provide an automatic silk stretching method and apparatus for stretching silk on a silk screen printing frame efficiently.